Moonset
by ashesmuse
Summary: He hates the moon, hates how it controls his shape and life. Werewolves are not the only ones to think this, so Remus discovers.


disclaimer: Swan Lake isn't mine, Harry Potter isn't mine. Unknowns belong to me. ta.  
  
.Moonset.  
  
"That was beautiful." The eldest of them commented softly at the end of the song.  
  
"Thanks." The youngest replied, pleased with her singing that night.  
  
"Isn't it true that swans sing before they die?" A harsh voice asked, emerging from the sullen figure at the eldest's feet. The eldest could only sigh at her brother's mood.  
  
"And you wonder why anyone would rather die than put up with you like this, dear brother." The youngest retorted, dark eyes flashing in her annoyance.  
  
"Like what?" He shot back, getting to his feet and glaring in the moonlight. The youngest recognized the silent plea for divertissement in his black eyes.  
  
"Like a crocodile took a bite out of your tail feathers this afternoon!" She danced playfully out of his reach, avoiding his tickling fingers.  
  
"There are no crocodiles in Europe, cygnet!" He retorted, chasing after her.  
  
The oldest smiled as her brother cracked a grin and chased after their youngest sibling. The two of them were a decade apart in ages but it didn't show in their play, the pair of them resembling unruly grey cygnets. She stepped back from the water in a slide of ivory cloth, dodging the splashing steps as the younger pair played in the shallows of the lake.  
  
Their summer lake hardly deserved the title of lake, no deeper than the tallest of them, and just wide and long enough for a flock of swans to splash down on its jade waters. The surrounding willows and lily pads reflected the colour of the lake and provided shelter for them during the bad turns of weather.  
  
A squeal of laughter broke the eldest's thoughts away from their summer home. She looked to her younger siblings, watching with amusement as they splashed each other, their clothes soaked through like a second skin, matching their own skin in shades of white.  
  
"The moon is setting." She reminded them, stepping into the shallow water herself, the hem of her dress resting on the water's surface. They stopped their play immediately, turning as one to see the edge of the moon touch the woods. In minutes, it would disappear from the lake's surface.  
  
"No, not another day!" The sullen boy had returned, his hands clenched into fists at his sides. The youngest sadly watched the change in her brother's demeanor.  
  
"It will be like yesterday..." She started.  
  
"And the day before that. You must accept it Charles." The eldest finished, stepping deeper into the lake so that its water brushed her knees. Charles frowned and turned east, where the dawn was already turning the sky golden.  
  
"I don't want to accept it Minna. It's not our fault that we're out here, it's-"  
  
"The blame will not change our situation. Just relax and let the moon go this time." Minna told him softly, composing herself as the first twinge of moonset was felt through her body.  
  
"Please don't fight it Charlie." The youngest pleaded softly, brushing droplets of water from his arms. He frowned and hung his head, his body losing tension as he relaxed.  
  
"Fine." He told his sisters just as the moonlight faded from the lake.  
  
Three swans floated in the shallows of the summer lake, one facing east with his head on his downy breast as the sun began to climb into the sky. The other two swans wisely left him alone that morning.  
  
******  
  
The moon was full on the lake, rippling where the flock of swans rested on the shoals and banks. They had just arrived that afternoon, delighting in their new home. Charles pulled himself to his feet, staring away from the lake at the castle doting one shoreline and the forest another. He stepped from the shallows, shaking the chill water from his bare feet and stared at the castle.  
  
It was lit brightly, orange and yellow warmth flickering through windows and cracks, the noises of life echoing from its guts. He stood with moonlight's shadows and brights painting him into the landscape. White and black were his colours, not the lively hues in that castle.  
  
Charles sunk to rest at the shoreline, fingers trailing through the water, a stray feather or two floating by. He glared at the downy feathers, and quickly splashed them away.  
  
A low whuff of air echoed in the rippling water, the warm scent of fur and meat in breath lingering. He looked over one bare shoulder, lips quirking in greeting to the huge wolf standing placidly beside him.  
  
"How goes the evening hunt, wolf?" He shook his head and moved to face the wolf. Talking to animals while still human, he shook his head again. "No luck with a full moon this night." He smiled ruefully. The wolf growled, furry head cocking to one side as if puzzling out him from another angle. "What? Never seen talking prey?" He asked on a chuckle.  
  
Charles held up one hand and when the wolf did not try for it, he ran his fingers through soft brown fur, scratching at the dark pointed ears and the thick ruff along its neck. He smiled at the low rumble coming from the wolf and the relaxed look to its amber eyes as it settled down next to him.  
  
They sat by the lake, Charles murmuring things to himself as the moon made its path across the lake.  
  
"Moonset is just before dawn today, rising in the afternoon, early evening," he quoted Minna, fingers tightening in the wolf's fur. The wolf whined, nudging at his side. He patted the wolf's great head, a smile twisting on his face.  
  
"Perhaps I will see myself in sunlight for a time. Shall you come visiting?" He asked, chuckling at the whuff the wolf produced. "Don't worry over simple prey, wolf." He rubbed its nose before slipping off the grass to stand in the shallows.  
  
Moonset only gave an estimate of his change, as it was triggered when the moon's reflection left the lake, not when it truly set below the horizon. It was touching the shore even as the water whispered all around him, welcoming his return. He didn't fight it, slipping back into his plumage of white feathers, limbs shifting to befit his life on the water.  
  
The wolf watched a cob swan drift off on the waters, snowy head bowed to his chest. He turned and ran, paws carrying him to the castle gates where a dark man, his mate, waited and led him into the maze of halls and stairs to his den, deep in the bowels of the structure.  
  
His fur trembled as the moon sank below the horizon and his bones shifted with a dull ache. The transformation left him a shuddering naked man in his mate's arms, panting softly in his exhaustion.  
  
"How are your reactions to the revised potion? Any side effects?" He was questioned and pulled into the bedroom, a prepared bed, sheets pulled back to embrace him, waiting.  
  
"Hallucinations, I'm not sure." He shook his head. "There was a boy Severus, but he was a swan too." He yawned, feeling himself being tucked into the welcoming sheets and nothing more.  
  
.end chapter one. 


End file.
